1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus for integrating video and power transmission signals and more particularly to an apparatus using UTP I/O terminals for receiving video signals from and providing power to video cameras in a security monitoring system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As the global economy continues to develop and the gross domestic product (GDP) of most countries continues to increase, people become ever more concerned about their wealth and their personal safety, thereby creating a demand for various surveillance and monitoring devices to protect valuable property and to ensure individual safety. The security monitoring market has been growing steadily, especially in the U.S. and Western Europe, where the market is highly developed.
The security monitoring system prior art is based on analog signals using videotapes as the primary storage medium. However, due to the limited storage capacity of videotapes, it is often necessary to replace videotapes manually on a regular basis. Furthermore, videotapes are not viable for long-term storage needs, and tend to require much space for storage. Also, the mediocre image quality of such tapes is also a basic concern, leading to an increase in the use of hard discs as the most common choice for video storage. Nowadays, digital video servers have been widely adopted among financial institutions, hospitals, and other organizations or companies that require enhanced security features. These digital video servers provide added functions such as remote monitoring capabilities and clearer image quality, and they connect to optical disc drives to back the data up. Hence, digital video servers have been regarded as a replacement for analog monitoring pro ducts.
A UTP cable may be used to connect the security monitoring system to the remote digital video server for transmitting power, video, audio, control, and detection signals. However, it usually requires more than two devices to integrate all the input/output signals, which tends to increase the cost, time, and space required for installation.